The Remainders
by KittyKat1217
Summary: The lives of nearly five hundred people are changed drastically when a virus is planted in a local mall, causing the government to put the entire building on a full-scale quarantine. Everything seems alright, but when people start dropping dead, things go completely haywire, and slowly the victims realize that the virus is the least of their problems.
1. The Beginning Part 1

**The _R_emain_d_ers**

Full Summary~

The lives of nearly five hundred people are changed drastically when a virus is planted in a local mall, causing the government to put the entire building on a full-scale quarantine. Everything seems alright, but when people start dropping dead a full scale panic is jump started, and slowly the victims realize that the virus is the least of their problems, and the real thing they should be worrying about is human nature in itself.

Pairings~ (no particular order)

NaLu, GaLe, Gruvia, Jerza, Bixanna, Miraxus, Cobra/Kinana, ElfEver, RoWen…

Shoutout~ Riven for getting me hooked. (fuck) And the book _No Safety in Numbers, _which this story is heavily based off of. The book so thoroughly disappointed me that I decided to write it for myself.

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_4:00 PM_

_The food court of Magnolia mall_

_Lucy_

He's late. I'm perfectly on time and yet again he is _late._

I shouldn't really be surprised, he is _always _late, but this is the time it really counts.

I had _finally_, after working up nearly five years of pent up frustration and courage, mustered the strength to tell my best friend, Natsu, that I was in love with him.

And I had a sliver of hope, that if he were to show up on time I wouldn't have to spend minutes worrying and regretting, but that sliver of hope has long diminished, and here I am, worrying, and regretting.

_Maybe I should wait, maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't tell him…Maybe he's with his girlfriend! Oh god, what am I going to do!?_

Fisting my hands in my jeans, I shakily stood up, peering over crowds of people, hoping to see Natsu's flamboyant pink hair among them.

No dice. I scooted away from my spot at the food court to look around for him, he might've forgotten where our usual spot was.

_You idiot, of course he hasn't forgotten where the usual spot is! It's called that for a reason!_

Sifting through ribbons of people, I felt myself stop short when my ankle kicked something rough and sharp. I looked down to see a very out of place looking suitcase, one that someone from the nineteen thirties might've used.

I looked up to see if anyone was searching for the lost case, surely no one just dumps their possibly antique suitcase on the ground of a busy mall, and when I kicked it didn't move, there was obviously something heavy inside.

But no one seemed to be looking, so I hefted it up, letting out a grunt of surprise at its surprising weight. I managed to drag it back to my table and slam it down on top.

_Doo do do do doo inspector Lucy…_

I fingered the locking mechanism until I heard a dull clicking sound. I paused, my hand lingering over the side, poised to open it up.

_Ugh, this isn't right…I shouldn't be digging through someone's luggage…_

But like they said, curiosity killed the cat.

If I was anybody smart, I shouldn't have touched that suitcase. The second I saw it, I should've backed the fuck up, and walked the fuck away, like any average asshole would.

But apparently, I'm a major league dumbass, because I flipped open the lid of that suitcase and looked inside, like Pandora opening her precious box.

Instantly my face contorted into that of a confused one. Inside was a strange looking device, covered in wires and tubes and all sorts of things that would give a mechanic an orgasm.

I reached a tentative finger out, to touch the device, but I jerked my finger away. I may be a dumbass, but I'm no innocent. I watch shit tons of crime shows, and I know to _never touch the thingy that looks like it could totally be a bomb._

My eyes scanned the aisles, searching for a security guard. It didn't take long to find one, and I waved at him long enough so that he came jogging over.

"What seems to be the problem Miss?" He asked politely, scratching his head at what a pretty girl like me would need a security guard for.

_I'm not arrogant, just confident._

"Um, well, I sort of found this suitcase on the ground, and I thought you might want to take a look…" I said awkwardly.

He nodded and I stepped aside so that he could inspect the suitcase.

His wide eyes and small gasp are enough to make me want to scream and run for my life.

He pulled out a small walkie-talkie and muttered something incoherent into it before snapping the suitcase shut and speed walking away.

"Uh…hey! Wait!" I called out, but he paid no heed to my shouts of protests, and he disappeared into the service hallways.

"Dammit." I muttered. If that thing was a bomb, then I should probably get out of here. But it might just be some machine thing, plus I have to wait for Natsu.

Ugh, I'm totally screwed.

If I stay, I have to confess to Natsu. If I leave, I'll have to explain to Natsu why I left.

So I chose to stay, and wait out Natsu.

Wrong choice.

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_4:33 PM_

_The book store_

_Levy_

"Get that one, over there!" I cried excitedly.

"Do you _really _need another one shrimp? You already have like fifteen books in your hands." Gajeel gestured to the pile of books in my arms that I was struggling to carry, but I nodded profusely anyway.

"Yes, I really do! Now grab it before someone else does!" I said, steadying myself against the opposing shelf so that I wouldn't fall over from the weight of my books.

"There's no one else here." He deadpanned, grabbing the book anyways.

"That's besides the point. Give it!" I said, making room for the final book in my pile.

"Tch. Rude." He said, slapping the book on the pile so hard it came toppling down.

"Gajeel! Look what you did!" I accused with an angry pout. He shrugged and leaned back on the book shelf, pretending to be asleep.

"Punk." I seethed, retrieving the fallen literature.

"You were the one who dragged me here anyways," he mumbled, eyes still shut.

"Um, _yes_. I needed you to reach all the high-up books. You've fulfilled your duty." I said, waving him away.

"Says you shorty. Ya can't just order me around, I ain't your slave."

I laughed and stood up with all my books tucked in my arms. "You're here, aren't you?"

His eyes opened. "Why you little—,"

I skipped away, still laughing, to the check out counter. He followed me begrudgingly, grumbling about me being a witch and that he should've never come.

After paying for my books, I had barely managed to convince Gajeel to get ice cream with me before we were interrupted by a loud speaker crackling over the intercom.

**Attention mall shoppers, due to a training exercise the mall will be on temporary lockdown, please remain calm and continue your day as you normally would. We thank you for your cooperation and will inform you when you are allowed to leave.**

Gajeel's face scrunched up. "Training exercise? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. And who said I was gonna cooperate?" His hands formed fists as I sweat dropped nervously.

"Come on, I want ice cream. Forget the stupid training exercise." I said, tugging his arm fervently in the direction of ice cream.

He finally gave in, but I wouldn't forget the uneasy look on his face, as if he were waiting for something awful to happen.

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_4:45 PM_

_In front of 21 dresses_

_Jellal_

"Ugh. This is _so _boring." Erza said loudly, moving around so that the potted plant we had been hiding behind jostled and groaned.

'Erza! You're going to break our cover!" I whispered angrily, shoving the binoculars back over my eyes.

"But I'm _bored._ You promised me we could go to Cupcake!"

"We're locked in anyway, you heard the announcement. Calm your tits."

_Thwack!_

"Ouch! What the hell did you just hit me with?" I inquired, rubbing the back of my injured head.

"Doesn't matter. Why does Juvia want us to do this again?" Erza asked, switching positions so that her feet were resting on my lap.

"I told you, she thinks Gray is cheating on her. Come on, we owe it to her to find out the truth!" I encouraged, scanning the area with my binoculars.

"Give me those!" She yanked the binoculars away from me and took a look for herself.

"Found him."

"Seriously?!" I asked, I had been looking for him for nearly an hour, and she finds him in fifteen seconds?

"Yup. Right there." She pointed over by Abercrombie and sure enough, Gray was standing looking extremely impatient in front of the store.

"Looks like he's waiting for someone…" I said, squinting hard so that I could make out what I was seeing.

"Oh! I see a girl…oh _shit _she's hot…oh my god! She's hugging him! That bastard! Let's push him off the balcony!" Erza said, almost excitedly, while making a move to stand up.

"No! Just wait a bit…we have to make sure that he's actually cheating on her…" I said, leaning forward so that I could see better.

"What? Come on, he's totally hitting that! Let's go bust some nuts!" Erza said, plunging her fist into her palm for effect.

"No, Jesus, shut up. Keep watching." I said, shoving her face out of the way so that I could see Gray more clearly.

_And…wrong move, Way to go Jellal, you pissed her off._

Erza had already jumped me before I could finish my thought, her body weight cutting off my oxygen as I sputtered for breath.

"I'll teach you to smack me, you little—,"

She momentarily stopped manhandling me from behind the plant when several rushed security guards stormed past us with little to no regard to how many people they trampled. I barely managed to jerk her head away from the hallway so that she wasn't completely barreled over.

"The hell was that?" Erza asked, smoothing her wild crimson hair from our mini battle and watching the guards fade out of view.

"I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with that training exercise." I put air quotes around training exercise while readjusting behind the plant so that I could continue stalking Gray.

"Looks like they're really in a hurry." Erza said blankly, her eyes lingering where she had last seen them.

"Just forget them. We have more important things to worry about!" I yelled, noticing the fact that Gray and the mystery woman had disappeared.

She sighed heavily, as if she were carrying a heavy burden. "Fine. Let's catch that bastard, _then _Cupcake."

I smiled. "Great. Let's move."

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_5:12 PM_

_21 dresses_

_Mirajane_

"Mira, ooh, look at this one!"

I smiled kindly at my younger sister's find, a long white dress that pooled around her ankles when she twirled.

"It's gorgeous Lis," I gushed, holding my hand over my mouth. It really was, but it reminded me of something that I wished wasn't happening.

My sister was growing up.

Ever since I was younger, my one goal in life was to protect little Lisanna, my little sis, no matter how difficult it got. And it got extremely difficult when both of our parents were killed in a car accident. Me, my younger brother, and Lisanna all moved in with my grandmother and struggled for a very long time, but after counseling for me and boxing lessons for my brother, we all pulled through, and we always would.

But here I was, dress shopping with my little sister for her date with…Bixlow. My experiences with Bixlow were less than pleasant, but Lisanna adored him, so I did my best to not judge a book by its cover.

Of course, most books weren't six feet tall and painted with tattoos.

I had my fair share of bad experiences with boys, mostly because my taste was horrendous. It seemed that I could only pick assholes, douchebags, and losers. But I had a new boyfriend, Albert, and he was the world's biggest gentleman, and I couldn't be happier.

Well…almost.

My taste for…dare I say it…_bad boys _has been flaring up lately, and I just find myself to be…bored.

No matter, I'm sure it'll pass.

"Well, what do you think?"

I had almost forgotten the whole reason I came to the mall. I snapped my gaze up to see Lisanna in a brand new dress, dark blue with silky ribbons criss-crossed all around.

"Oh Lisanna…you look beautiful…" I said, my bottom lip threatening to start shaking.

"Really? I wasn't really sure…" Lisanna said, playing with a small ribbon near the hem.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, you look stunning," I said, standing up so that I could get a better view.

Lisanna was a positively gorgeous young woman, I knew that enough. She had short, smooth silvery hair much like my own, and bright, kind blue eyes that could make anyone feel at home.

"Do you think Bixlow would like it…?" She asked nervously, knowing exactly what I thought of him.

To shield her from my sour face, I turned around quickly. "Of course he'll like it, if he doesn't then he's absolutely crazy."

She smiled her radiant smile and did a quick twirl. "Great…I think this is the one…"

I smiled brightly as well and called Elfman over to see her, he had been sitting outside of the store, claiming that dress shops were not 'manly' enough.

Ever since mom and dad died, Elfman felt all of the pressure to become the man of the house, which led to his slight obsession with doing things that are 'manly'. I didn't hold it against him, and I never would.

"Are you almost ready to go…" Elfman grumbled quietly probably scared to be this close to so many sparkles.

"Oh yes," Lisanna said, standing there in her beautiful dress as Elfman's jaw dropped.

"Lisanna…you look…" He couldn't finish.

Lisanna giggled and disappeared into the changing room so that we could purchase the gown.

"If that Bixlow tries anything funny…" Elfman trailed off and I nodded gravely.

"That'll make two of us little brother."

After we paid for the dress, we all decided to head home, our grandma was expecting us home by 5:45 and it was a twenty minute drive to get home.

"Oh I'm just too excited, he said it was going to be a surprise and that I should wear something nice!" Lisanna babbled on about her date with Bixlow, but I was distracted by the fact that the doors to the parking garage were surrounded by guards with _guns._

_Big_ guns.

'Do you seriously think they're still on lockdown?" I asked aloud, looking around for someone with answers.

"I guess so. Maybe we should just ask them if we can leave, grandma's expecting us!" Lisanna said, tapping her watch.

"I'll go ask." I said, but Elfman pulled me back.

"I'll go Mira." He said firmly, walking up to a security guard for some information.

Lisanna and I waited anxiously, the security guard seemed rigid and cold, I hoped he wouldn't do anything drastic.

After a few minutes Elfman returned with his mouth twisted into a firm line.

"There have been some difficulties, and they're going to be on lockdown for a bit longer. They gave us a fifteen dollar gift card, to use anywhere in the mall." Elfman's eyes said that it was going to be a lot longer than 'a bit'. He handed me the card and I slipped it into my purse, trying to ignore the cloud of worry shrouded over us.

"Well…I'll call grandma to tell her that we might be a bit late…" I said sheepishly, pulling out my phone.

I unlocked the screen and clicked the phone button, wondering what I'd tell grandmother so that she wouldn't worry, when I noticed the words _no service _blinking at the top of my screen.

_That's weird…I could've sworn I had service a few minutes ago…_

I looked up, my mouth dry and my mind blank. "No service."

They both looked as astonished as I did, but they didn't say anything.

"Well," I broke the silence nervously. "How about we grab something to eat?"

"That sounds good!" Lisanna said happily, leading the way to the food court.

What was going on here?

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_6:27 PM_

_The music shop_

_Cobra_

Aah, 6:27. Only three minutes until this god awful shift ends.

I fucking hate working at the music store, music has pretty much died in the last twenty years. Pretty much the only music they play is annoying poppy music that repeats the word love an absurd amount of times before the singer wails obnoxiously.

And listening to that shit on replay for four hours a day can get a little…

Suicide inducing.

The only perk to my remedial job is the _view._

Because my dear friends, across from the music store is the Victoria secret store.

And not only are hot babes walking in and out of that store 24/7, but the giant billboards are big enough for people to see from _miles _away.

Awesome.

But the biggest, and best perk of all is the Victoria Secret worker who comes to the music shop every day at 5:40 and browses a different music section.

She is absolutely gorgeous, with the rarest shade of violet colored hair and green eyes and she always smiles at me like I'm someone famous.

She is in the shop right now, and I'm creepily watching her as she digs through the old eighties records.

She has a delicious ass.

She hummed along with the latest pop single as I absently glanced at my watch.

6:31.

…It can wait.

Besides, I'm pretty sure the mall was on some sort of weird lock down anyways. Shit like that happens when I have my headphones on, I swear. No big deal, I'll just stay here until Jerry comes for his shift.

…Where is Jerry? Usually he's here by now…

Were they not letting people in the mall because of the lock down? Because then-

"Excuse me,"

I almost fell off the back of my chair when the gorgeous girl looked at me expectantly from the other side of the counter.

I said something intelligent, like ahh hmm and she smiled kindly.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked, leaning forward a bit so that I could see up her shirt.

"Yes?" _Ah I sound like an idiot…gugh…great._

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" She whispered lowly, her eye fleeting back and forth.

"You mean…the lockdown?" I said with a swallow. She nodded slowly.

"I…no. I don't know."

She pursed her lips and looked around again, man did she seem on edge, like someone was watching her.

"…Don't you think it's weird? I just saw twenty security guards go into the service hallway. I think something bad might've happened…" She said.

I tilted my head to the side. It was obvious that the 'training exercise' or whatever the hell they were calling it was total bullshit. But this could be my only chance to find out what's going on…

"Why don't we go find out?" I asked. She looked confused.

"What do you mean?" She asked with a wry smile.

'I've got my service key. Let's go check it out." I suggested with a light shrug.

_Please say yes please say yes please say yes._

"Let's go then." She said with that same bright smile she greeted me with every day.

I smiled back. This was perfect. A (sort of) date with a hot girl, and possible information about what was going on.

"Yeah," I said, standing up and grabbing my bag. "Let's go."

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_6:00 PM_

_Friday Night_

_Wendy_

"Mom," I started, sitting up straighter so I could see over my menu.

My distracted mother looked up from her own menu with tired eyes. "Yes dear?"

I laid my menu down and gave her a stern look. "Mom, what's wrong?"

She sighed, knowing I had caught her. "Nothing sweetheart, just…work running me ragged is all."

I hummed in doubt and observed my menu absentmindedly. Hm, the Caesar salad sounded really good right now…

"I think I'm going to get a salad." I said firmly, folding up my menu and setting it down on the table.

"Alright, I'm going to get the veggie sub, it just looks too delicious," my mother said with a worn smile.

We waved the waiter over and ordered, but I couldn't distract myself from the burden that seemed to be looming over my mother's shoulders. I knew being a doctor was hard, especially seeing all the death and despair, but the toll had never been quite this drastic before.

"Uh, so…what do you think about this training exercise?" I asked a bit lamely. Usually conversation between my mom and I flowed like the Nile, but today it was like there was a dam built right in between us.

My mother opened my mouth to answer, but her phone blared loudly and she grimaced.

"I'm sorry Wendy…just…let me take this." She reached out of her bag and pulled out her phone, making a sick face when she saw the caller ID.

"Hello?"

I heard faint squabbles on the other line, and my mother's face became confused.

"I'm sorry, what?"

More talking.

"That's…are you sure?"

Nervousness began taking me over.

_Oh no! What's wrong!? I bet something awful happened…_

"Can it wait?" My mother asked desperately, giving me a very sad look.

Even more talking, and the faintest of yelling.

"I…alright. I'll be there."

My heart sank as she hung up her phone.

"Wen—,"

"It's alright, just go. I'll be fine." I said sadly.

"I'm so sorry Wendy, it's an emergency." My mother explained guiltily.

"Do what you have to. Will you pick me up around 8? I think I'm going to go shopping some." I said glumly.

"I…sure, here's some money." She handed me an extremely large wad of cash and hurried up from her seat, almost forgetting her purse in the process.

This wasn't really new, mom was always on call, being one of the most skilled doctors in all of Magnolia, but I wondered what could have her stirred up enough to just abandon me here.

The waiter came with my salad and mom's sub, and I ate alone in my own thoughts.

The salad tasted terrible, the lettuce was pretty old. I asked for the check only minutes after getting my food, and paid dutifully, leaving my mom's sub untouched.

**Attention mall shoppers,**

_Oh, they're probably finishing up the lockdown._

**We regret to inform you that the mall is going to remain on full lock-down until more information is given. Again, we are very sorry for any possible inconveniences and ask you to remain calm and orderly. Please stay away from all exits and go about as you normally would. Thank you all for your cooperation.**

_That's…weird…_

How is my mom going to get to the hospital if the building is still on lockdown?

I gingerly pulled my phone out of my pocket, ready to dial her number, but when I did an error notice popped up.

_Error 936- No service available._

What?

I tried again, but the error popped up once more.

I checked the wifi, but there were no networks online.

_Are they…cutting us off?_

The cold dread hit me like a thousand tons of steel.

_I have a feeling that a hell of a lot more is going on than just a training exercise._

* * *

**Yay! It's finally on ****_my _****profile. Ugh, I'm such a weirdo.**

**~Review responses~**

xXJayfeatherRocksXx~ Yeah, the main reason I disliked it was because I couldn't relate to any of the charcters. At all. They were all so stereotypical and almost...forced. Just...bleh. I didn't even care if they all died, plus the ending was a little weird. Oh well, I hope you like my version a bit better! (even though my writing is...bleck)

NoSyrupOnMyWaffles~ Omg, this review made me laugh way too hard. Sorry for making everything extra difficult, but anyways, welcome aboard!

NovemberFord~ Ah, ok! I'll write some Gray/Cana bromancish stuff in this. Should be easy enough to make it work. (Cana is my spirit animal)

Pineapple-ninja16~ when I read your username, all I can think of is Psych. Sorry if that makes no sense to you. Anyways thanks for being a precious lil soul and reviewing and not running away frightened.

Delia365~ Glad you liked it! Hoping this'll only get better!

loGAN~ Trust me I am just as surprised as you are.

Celessee~ I will! Hope you won't have too much trouble finding this!

Disney lovers 101~ Yay! Someone who likes my writing! (trust me, there aren't too many of you guys out there!)

alEC~ We've already talked about this, but peace out and kactus for lyfe

* * *

**Sorry for all inconveniences, I hope all of you are still interested! (And I will write the next chapter quick, I promise!)**

**So…in other news…who's your favorite character?**


	2. The Beginning Part 2

**The Remainders**

**A/N Yay! Guys, not only did I get most of the old readers back, but some new readers as well! Welcome aboard!**

**Part 2~ The Beginning.**

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_6:33 PM_

_By the East elevators_

_Lucy_

My first thought after the second announcement, was holy cockballs I've doomed this entire mall.

You see, I had my suspicions when that stupid briefcase first got hauled in, could be a potential bomb, or terrorist threat.

And my fears were almost confirmed when the mall went on lockdown.

Psh, if anybody actually believed that 'training exercise' bullshit, they deserved to get blown up.

But that second announcement _really _put some ice on my bones.

The only problem was, it didn't add up.

If it _was _a bomb, why would they keep everyone inside? If it was a bomb, wouldn't they evacuate us so that we could be safe?

Shouldn't they?

But instead, we were trapped, like rats. And the worst part was, I think a majority of the 'prisoners' were enjoying their stay.

It was a game to them, just a stupid game. It'd all be over soon enough.

Not to me.

I knew deep in my heart that this trip to the mall was going to be seared into my brain for a very long time.

"Lucy!"

I whirled around at the sound of my name.

"Luce!"

_…__Natsu?_

He bounded up to me with that old ratty scarf of his bouncing up and down from his running.

"What…you're here!" I said, surprised.

"Of course I'm here. But when you said the usual place, I thought you meant—,"

"Uh…doesn't matter." I covered quickly, blushing at our close proximity. He smiled brightly and hooked his arm in mine.

"Looks like we're trapped here, cool eh? Where to first?" He looked so excited, so full of life.

He was just like everybody else.

"Um…how about food? I know you're probably hungry." I suggested quietly.

"You know me Luce," he said with a childish wink as he skipped back towards the food court, dragging me beside him.

I wish his happiness could've been contagious.

On our way, we walked by the east exit, and I noticed guards.

With some really big-ass guns.

A small crowd of upset civilians seemed to have gathered in front of the doors, probably loaded with questions that I wanted to ask as well.

_I'm sorry; it's my fault, all my fault. If I hadn't opened that stupid suitcase-_

"Hey, Lucy…what's wrong?" Natsu asked with genuine concern.

"…Er, nothing. Just hungry is all." I said, waving my problem away like a pesky fly.

But like any pesky fly, it refused to die, buzzing obnoxiously in my ear every five seconds.

_Your fault. Your fault._

I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach, knowing that I was most likely the cause of all the upset people, probably trying to make it home to their families.

"…You're not hungry." Natsu said flatly, taking us to a screeching halt.

"What do you mean?" I asked, twirling a piece of my hair which was an annoying nervous habit I had.

"What's _wrong_?" He asked, more forcefully this time.

I sighed and tried to think of a good excuse.

"You uh…I thought you ditched me to hang out with your girlfriend." I said with an awkward little shrug.

_I…am an idiot. Confessing to Natsu is the absolute least of my problems right now._

He gave me a funny look, one I certainly wasn't expecting.

"That's…weird." He finally said, turning back forward so we could get a move on to the food court.

"Uh…why is that weird?" I asked, confused. He laughed.

"You think I'd ditch food with you just to make out with a chick?" He asked, still laughing.

"…Well, I mean—,"

He slapped my hand down. "That's a rhetorical question. Now let's _eat_." He said happily, using his hand to wave over the food building like his hand was the one that made it appear.

"What do you want?" I asked, perching my hand on my hip as Natsu pondered where his meal would originate. For us, this was like the final jeopardy, the most important question in all of life itself.

"Aah…hmm…what about…the…that one!" Natsu pointed to a brightly colored restaurant that had the words '_all you can eat' _painted across the top.

Great.

"Are you _really _that hungry?" I asked anxiously.

"Do you even have to ask?" He exclaimed, already halfway there.

Great, quite possibly the end for all of us and I'm stuck with a pink haired maniac.

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_6:42_

_The ice cream shop_

_Gajeel_

"Van…il…la!" Levy announced, tapping her finger nail on the glass in front of the vanilla ice cream.

"Are you kidding me? There's at least 20 flavors, and you pick _vanilla_?" I asked, disgusted with her awful decision.

"I _like _vanilla. It's my favorite." Levy said sharply, taking her tiny vanilla cone from the greasy worker with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Ugh. Books and vanilla? I think you win the old lady at eighteen award." I grumbled. She glared at me and licked her ice cream happily.

"Why didn't you get anything?" She asked after I paid for her ice cream.

"I don't want anything." I answered bluntly.

"Why did you pay for me?" She asked.

"You ask too many questions." I grunted.

"You're avoiding the question," she fired back. God she's annoying. If she wasn't so damn interesting, I wouldn't have to pay for her stupid boring ice cream.

"I can't believe we're locked in. Strange don't you think? I really want to know what's going on…" She said, dropping the previous subject completely.

"Probably some government screw-up." I muttered with a shrug. Truth was, I was just as confused as she was.

Why the hell are we all locked in here? Isn't this illegal or something?

It's not like I have anything better to do, but still, if I was going to be locked in a giant building with a bunch of stupid kids, you better damn believe I want to know why.

"Maybe. But I feel like if something bad was happening here, wouldn't they want to get us _out _instead of _in_?" Levy asked herself with a worried look on her face. Ugh. I hated it when she looked all sad. It pissed me off.

"Don't worry about it shrimp. I'm sure it'll all be over soon enough." I said in a less-than-comforting voice.

"You don't sound too sure…" She caught me. Damn.

"Uh…just…what do you want to do next?" I changed the subject quickly, not wanting to let her in on the fact that I was just as worried as she was.

She sighed. I really wish she wasn't so smart, it'd be so much easier to protect her.

"Hm. I don't know, do you want to get something to eat? I'm worried you haven't gotten enough to eat…" She asked.

Ugh. She's gotta make everything about someone else, it's never about her. Fuck her selflessness.

"Yeah, sure." I muttered. She smiled brightly and led the way to the food court, which was surprisingly empty right now.

"Where should we go? There's lots of good places. Hm…what about—,"

"Hey, is that Salamander?" I asked to no one in particular, squinting my eyes to see better into the restaurant.

'I think it is! And Lucy too! We should go join them!" Levy squealed, tugging an my arm in their direction.

"Ugh. Seriously? Salamander looks like he's inhaling the place…" I noted, seeing Natsu eat was like seeing a black hole in action.

"Aw, don't be silly let's go!" She encouraged, pulling me along. I wasn't really trying.

Two minutes later Levy and Lucy were screaming like they hadn't seen each other in years.

"Oh my god! You look great!"

"No, oh my god you look _so _cute!"

Fuck ing kill me.

"Hey Gajeel, you look pissed." Natsu said in between munches.

"You look like a fucktard. Anything else new?" I said, stealing one of his French fries.

"Hey! I needed that!" He shouted, his eyes burning with rage from that stupid French fry.

"No you didn't fatass!"

"You wanna fight me metal-face?"

"The fuck did you just call me?"

Levy sweat dropped. "Erm…maybe it was a bad idea to bring Gajeel here…"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Lucy assured her.

_Smash!_

"Gajeel!" I heard Levy scream from behind me.

"What? I only broke a plate over his head!" I said, holding the dish fragment in surprise.

"Wha…Natsu!" Lucy lifted a dizzy looking Natsu up from his slumped position in his chair as he moaned.

"Hey…that's foul play…no plates allowed…" He murmured sleepily.

"Gajeel! I can't believe you did that!" Levy exclaimed with an almost stern facial expression.

"Hey, he was asking for it." I answered with a shrug.

'You can't just solve problems by bashing people in the head! That's not how life works!" She huffed, puffing her cheeks out.

"It's worked for me so far!" I argued, abandoning the half piece of plate as an angry looking short man.

'Excuse me! I am going to have to ask all of you to leave!" He shouted, his face bright red and his veins bulging out of his forehead.

"But I didn't finish eating…" Natsu whined, glancing woefully at his unfinished plate.

"Get out!" The man screeched.

We all scurried out of the ugly restaurant, each muttering our own unique curses under our breath.

"Well. Where to next?" Natsu asked cheerfully, as if this were just another happy day in the life of Natsu Dragneel.

"Are you kidding m—,"

**_BANG! BANG!_**

Bunny girl jumped sixteen feet in the air and Levy almost passed out.

"Hey, what was that?" Natsu asked, completely unaware of what the sound was.

But I knew that sound. I knew it all to well.

"Gunfire." I said, my mouth dry. "Somebody's shooting a gun."

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_7:13_

_Mirajane_

"Did you hear that?"

I looked up from my thoughts, Lisanna's worried face greeting me.

"Hear what?" Elfman asked with his mouth completely full.

"I…nothing, I thought I heard something." Lisanna asked, standing up to throw her meal wrapper in the trash.

I bit my lip nervously. We should be home by now…this whole ordeal should be over, we shouldn't still be in the mall…

"Hey Mira, something wrong?" Elfman asked, just finishing up his huge sandwich.

"No, of course not…" I covered, licking my lips in shame. I hated lying to my siblings, but what was I supposed to tell them? That something was wrong, something wasn't right?

That'd only freak them out. I needed to keep them calm.

"Hm. Ok." Elfman said skeptically, following Lisanna up to the trash can.

I hadn't gotten anything. I couldn't eat, I was too stressed out. Grandma is probably so worried, I wouldn't even be surprised if she'd called the police…

My eyes traveled the food court, empty tables and chairs were all I saw, with the exception of tons of onlookers walking past us completely unaware and without a care in the world.

"What do you want to do next Mira? I was thinking of going to forever 21, but I didn't really think big brother was up to that…" Lisanna asked, chewing on one of her finger nails absently.

"Um, no that sounds—,"

My eyes drifted back to the people who were passing the food court.

_That's weird, I could've sworn I saw-_

"Mira?"

_Damn it. Damn it all to hell oh shit._

"Elfman? Take Lisanna to Forever 21." I demanded, pushing him away from me.

"But I don't-,"

"Just do it!"

He backed away with Lisanna on his arm, taking the distress in my voice as a warning to move faster.

_This…this is going to suck._

"It _is _you, Mira."

I turned around with a fake smile plastered across my lips.

"Hi Laxus."

"You look great," he said with an eyebrow raise at my outfit.

It wasn't even that great. Just a flowing blue top and a short-ish white skirt.

Something Albert would like.

Right. I have a boyfriend.

"Thanks." I finally said curtly, wanting to spend as little time as possible in his presence.

Laxus and I used to date.

For a year and a half, actually.

But we went to separate colleges, and also I'm pretty sure he was banging my best friend. I broke up with him on graduation day, and let's just say he didn't take it all that well.

"How's Magnolia U?" He asked casually, his two friends looking bored of his antics.

"It's good. I have a boyfriend now." _Great now you sound like an insecure bitch._

"Is that so?" He asked, his lightning like scar shifting with his amused expression. "I bet I can take him."

"There will be no 'taking'," I scoffed, folding my arms over my chest.

"Hey, uh, Laxus? We're gonna go look for some girls. We'll meet you back here in an hour," one of his friends said, moving his dark hair out of his eyes to reveal red irises.

"Yeah ok." Laxus waved them off, his eyes fixed on me.

They shuffled away and I seriously considered following them.

"So, does this boyfriend have a name?" Laxus asked, his eyes hard and unyielding.

"Yes," I answered swiftly. He took a step closer to me and I took one step back.

"Are you gonna _tell _me his name?" He asked, a sick smirk covering his mouth.

One step closer, one step back.

"Albert." I said haughtily, not missing his snort of laughter.

"Albert." He repeated, not faltering his string of laughter.

"Yes Albert. And I'd appreciate if you didn't make fun of him." I defended.

"He uh…he sounds kind of fake, if you ask me…" Laxus said with a shrug once he had finished laughing.

"Fake!?" I cried in exasperation. "Albert is not fake!"

"Prove it." He challenged, taking another step forward, only this time, a table was blocking my way back.

And now I'm trapped.

"Fine." I snapped, pulling out my phone and clicking his contact number. "See?"

He looked at my phone, and Albert's contact photo. "Well if he's real, then you'll have no problem calling him."

"I will!" I said sharply, momentarily forgetting about the fact that my phone had no service.

"Oh…never mind, I can't call him." I said quickly, glaring at the no service reminder.

"Why not?" Laxus asked slyly, thinking that he had won this argument.

"Because there's no service." I said lowly. He looked confused.

"What? Why not?" He pulled out his own phone to see if the same thing had happened to him, and he frowned when he saw the results.

"That's…weird." He finally said, scratching the back of his head in wonder.

"Yeah. I-,"

**Attention mall shoppers,**

_Not again…_

**Another problem has come to our attention, and we are sorry to have to tell you this. The mall will be on lock down overnight.**

Plenty of surprised gasps, including my own.

**Each sector of the mall will report to a different store for sleeping preparations. See a worker for more details on this subject. Section A of the mall will go to Macy's, Section B will go to Bloomingdales, Section C will go to The sporting goods store,**

_He's just avoiding saying Dick's…_

**And Section D will go to Nordstrom. Please check in with a mall official when you get to your sector and cooperate appropriately. To see what sector you are in, please locate the nearest map. We are very sorry that no more information about the training exercise will be revealed at the time. Thank you all, and goodnight.**

What? Is this even _legal_? I looked over at Laxus worriedly and he seemed to have identical thoughts.

"Uh…let's go see what sector we're in…" He said, trying to get his mind off of the turmoil.

"Yeah…yeah ok." I said hollowly, following him to a service map where people were already gathered.

"Looks like we're in Section C," he said, pointing to Dick's on the map. I nodded and we made our way to the store, both of us not saying a word.

_Oh shit…Elfman and Lisanna…_

I scanned my brain, trying to remember what section Forever 21 was in. If I remembered right, it _should _be in Section D, but I'm not all too sure.

Great. The only person I'm going to know is Laxus.

And I'm going to spend the night, in a mall.

My grandma is going to have a heart attack.

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_7:53_

_Outside Columbia_

_Wendy_

"Section B." I heard someone read off of the map. Great. I forgot where Section B was supposed to go.

_Was it the sporting goods store? No…that was C…maybe it's Macy's?_

I wondered where my mom was. She was obviously still inside the mall, it was on lockdown, so what Section would she go to?

Friday Night was in Section C…maybe I should just go to that section, that's probably where my mom is going to look for me.

I wanted to cry. I was alone in a mall and I had to spend the night with hundreds of strangers.

So here I was, a fifteen year old girl almost in tears because she had lost her mother and didn't know where to go.

_Pull yourself together Wendy! _

I stood up a bit straighter to see over the crowd of screaming people around the map. The sporting good store should be to my right, and thank god…it was much less crowded that way.

I darted past the hoard of people and ducked through the quiet hall. It was about now that I really wished my mom had never sent me to a private school, the odds of me knowing someone here where slim to none. Not to mention that most people at my school are really snotty and stuck up.

The sporting good store was just up ahead, and I was surprised how little people there were. Over at Section B there were hundreds of swarming people, but from what I could see there were only about twenty people in the store.

"Hello, first and last name please?" A lady on a personal computer asked, clicking names in one at a time.

"Er…uh…Wendy…Wendy Marvell." I stammered nervously. She typed my name in and gave me the lo-down.

"Basically it's a free for all, just make sure you put the stuff back after you use it." She said.

_Gosh, she makes this sound so normal…_

I looked up to see if I knew anyone. No luck. And it didn't look like there were any people my age either.

I walked past an empty register slowly and sat on top of it, with nothing else to do.

_I wonder where I should sleep…I wonder what I'm going to sleep on!?_

_Crash!_

I looked up quickly to see what all the commotion was. A pink haired boy was racing towards me at top speed, looking like he had just knocked some things off of shelves.

I screamed as I fell off the register in surprise, almost falling on top of the boy.

"Whoa! Sorry, didn't see you there." He apologized, helping me get back on my feet.

"Natsu! Did you seriously just plow that little girl over?" An angry-looking blonde girl shouted from the check in area.

"I'm sorry Lucy! I didn't mean too!" He shouted back to her, with a guilty look.

"Don't apologize to me!" Lucy said. He turned to me again and apologized.

"Hey, I'm really sorry. Are you alone?" He asked nosily, probably seeing that I looked like I was ten and had nobody to talk to.

"Um…yes." I admitted shyly.

Lucy came trotting over, a motherly look on her face.

"Ah, I'm so sorry. He can be really reckless sometimes." The blonde girl said. She was really gorgeous, with warm brown eyes and styled blonde hair. She must be his girlfriend.

"That's uh….that's ok." I said nervously.

"Hey don't worry kid. You can hang out with us." Natsu said brightly, putting his lightly muscled arm over my shoulder.

"Is she alone?" Lucy asked him. He nodded and squeezed my shoulder.

"We'll take care of you."

I was about to say thanks, it was nice to have someone to talk to, but Lucy flagged over an odd looking couple to sit with us.

"This is Levy and Gajeel, guys, this is…" Lucy trailed off; she didn't know my name.

"Wendy." I finished for her she nodded and the girl who I assumed to be Levy greeted me enthusiastically.

"Hi there! I'm Levy," she had short sky blue hair that was wild and cute while being pulled back with an orange bandana and her height rivaled that of mine.

The guy, Gajeel, just grunted. He was easily over six feet with metal piercings doting his face and an angry expression, plus long black hair that was tied into a messy ponytail.

"Oh my gosh! Guys! Lets build a fort!" Natsu yelled victoriously, digging through camping supplies and grabbing several tents.

"Uh…ok." Lucy said with a shrug, retrieving all the tents that Natsu dropped.

"Let's go!" Levy said happily, grabbing blankets off of the shelf. Gajeel followed her reluctantly and I went after him, not denying that I was a bit excited.

It was just like a camp out, a big sleepover, that's all.

It was easy to pretend that nothing was wrong.

* * *

**Aha, fast update :3 (I'm not very good at these)**

**I felt like my writing was ****_really _****bad in this chapter, so sorry about that…**

**Next chapter will be like Jellal and Erza, Cobra and Kinana, and probably Lucy and Natsu. Natsu is extremely fun to write.**

**Also, Juvia in the next chapter! I couldn't leave her out!**

**Sooo~ I like readers they are v cool.**

**I was really weirded out like wtf twelve follows im confused…**

Eh. I'm talking too much.

* * *

**~Review Responses~**

Karen: what ?

Alec: I'm Karen's number one fan! I just want her to notice me…

DeAmonQueEn: Ugh. I wish. Think more like…one giant purge inside a mall.

NoSyrupOnMyWaffles: Ah…a little bit, just a bit more fancy. whY WOULD I KILL WENDY SHE IS HOMESLICE.

* * *

**I forgot to mention that I live like ten minutes away from the mall of America, which is significantly bigger than most malls, so if you're all like wtf why is this mall so big it's bc that's what I'm used to.**

**revIEW YOU LOVELY PPL**


	3. Quarantine Part 1

**The _Remainders_**

* * *

**Quarantine~ Part 1**

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_8:00 PM_

_In front of Best Buy_

_Jellal_

* * *

"Dammit Jellal! _Now we can't go to Cupcake!_"

"Sh! Shut up! What section are we in again?" I asked, silencing Erza with my finger.

"We're in goddamn section C and you _promised _we could go to Cupcake!" She argued, forgetting about the mission at hand.

"Hm, where was the last place we saw Gray?" I said, again ignoring her cupcake cravings.

"Section D. Do you have any idea how long I've waited just to get a taste of that delectable red velvet cream cheese cupcake? Do you know how fucking long, Jellal?!"

"Like three hours. Let's head back to Section D and check in there, it's our best chance of finding him." I said, folding up my binoculars and beginning the trek to the section adjacent to us.

"God, is that all you care about? Impressing Juvia? Well do you know what else Juvia wanted? She wanted _me _to enjoy a luscious cupcake, maybe even with those little cream thingies that are crunchy…the…uh, what do they call 'em…" Erza trailed off while daydreaming about macaroons.

"C'mon, you saw how sad she looked, besides, you seemed pretty hip to ripping Gray's dick off," I reasoned lightly, slinking through the surprisingly empty halls.

"Oh, shut up. You owe me three cupcakes, for your information. And I think Juvia would rip _my _dick off if I did that." Erza said, following me reluctantly.

"Shut up. There's Section D! Right behind those…guards…" I said, ending a lot less triumphant than the beginning.

"With guns," Erza added unhelpfully.

"Right. Maybe we should just stick with this Section…" I said, looking over at her for approval.

"Just for the night," she said, confirming my decision.

We snuck back over towards the check in store in Section C, Erza still muttering about her loss of Cupcake.

"Uh…check in was at Dick's right?" I asked, scratching my head in confusion.

"Ahaha, _yeah_…" Erza said, as if she were reminiscing an old memory that she was quite fond of.

"…You're thinking about the time I tried to steal a basketball, aren't you." I said flatly, trying to hide the embarrassment from that failed endeavor.

Erza finally let her concealed laughter out of its cage. "…Yeah, you should've known that lady wouldn't believe that you were pregnant."

"What else was I supposed to do!" I sputtered as she continued to cackle like a crazy woman.

"I don't know, but…" she stopped suddenly, like a dog that was distracted by a squirrel.

I was so tempted to say _'what is it boy?' _but I knew that'd earn me a slap in the face, so I wisely kept my trap shut.

"Do you hear something?" She asked, glancing into the chocolate store we had just passed.

"It's probably just my love for you, Erza darling." I said dramatically as she punched me in the stomach.

"Not funny. I think-"

_Crash!_

…Juvia…?

She looked up from the fallen box of chocolate and smiled sheepishly. "Err…I'm sorry." **(sorry, I have enough trouble writing in third person as it is, it's too much work to make Juvia have to actually ****_refer _****to herself in third person…gosh~)**

"What are you doing here?" Erza asked while helping her up.

"…I just got so nervous, you guys hadn't called for like fifteen minutes so I came here, I swear I was going to leave it to you guys…but…" She gestured to the almost-empty mall.

"You got locked in." I finished for her as she nodded gravely.

"I just…I don't think that Gray would cheat on me, but he's just been so distant, like he's mad at me…" Juvia stuttered, silvery tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Aha, _no way_. I am not dealing with tears. We're gonna check in, find Gray, kick ass, then buy Cupcakes!" Erza said, pumping her fist enthusiastically.

Juvia looked confused. "Wait…haven't you already gotten your cupcakes? You were so excited about them this morning…"

Erza turned to glare at me. "Finally, _someone _who understands the struggle to have to be friends with this idiot!" She pointed to me and I shrugged, not really ready to deny anything.

"Ah, well, we'll get double cupcakes tomorrow then!" Juvia said with a weak smile.

"I can't believe I've wasted eighteen years of my life with this sorry excuse for a wallet when I could have been cupcake feasting with you!" Erza whined to Juvia, referring to the eighteen years of my existence that I have known Erza.

Both born on the same day, Erza and I have pretty much been inseparable since we popped out of the wombs.

We are literally uterus bros.

Yeah, when you put it that way…it's a little weird, but it doesn't change the fact that I'd rather kill myself than spend a day knowing she wouldn't be by my side.

It's proved to be pretty convenient to have Erza around, she's like walking asshole repellent. True, I don't have many other friends besides her, but it's a given risk.

"Well it looks like you're the one to blame then, for putting all that faith in me," I retorted. She scowled and pointed up ahead.

"There's Dick's," I looked ahead to see a dimly lit store with groups of people hanging out in odd clusters all around.

"Great. Let's sign in, and find out what the hell is going on." I said, feeling stupid that I had completely forgotten about the fact that I was going to be locked in a _fucking mall_ overnight and I couldn't get a hold of my mom.

She was going to _kill _me.

"Name please," The tired looking woman with a computer asked.

"Jellal Fernandez."

She lazily typed my name and asked Erza and Juvia for their names, all while nervously fingering a cigarette. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and prepared myself for a fake coughing fit, but Erza quickly pulled me away.

"Not now, you idiot."

Fake coughing whenever I saw someone smoking was a shenanigan as old as time that Erza and I always pulled, and sometimes on special occasions one of us would pretend to die.

"Uh, excuse me, but do you have any idea what's going on here?" Juvia asked, her signature politeness shining through like a lovely beacon of truth and justice.

"Nope. Sorry." The check in lady snapped, taking a drag of her cigarette and blowing some cloudy smoke towards Juvia's face.

Juvia let out a breathy cough and Erza almost climbed over her tacky little desk to knock some ever-loving sense into her, but Juvia and I restrained her.

"Alright, so _Janine _over here doesn't know squat, I say we infiltrate the main office building and start beating shit until we get some answers!" Erza announced after we had walked far enough away from the check in lady who she had dubbed _Janine, _probably after her favorite movie Ghostbusters.

"Eh…maybe we should refrain from beating shit for a while…" Juvia said, wringing her hands anxiously.

"Mmm…I don't know, my fist is hungry, and the only thing that can feed it is pain!" I said idiotically, pumping my fist in the air for dramatic flair.

"Ugh. That line was lame as _fuck _and you know it." Erza said with a menacing glare.

"Aw, you're just jealous that I am naturally gifted in hilarity, while you're still learning the basics of sarcasm." I retorted with a condescending wag of my finger in her face.

"Jubes?"

We all looked up like prairie dogs on alert for predators at the low, almost gravelly voice that called out something quite similar to Juvia's name.

"Gajeel!?"

_Holy fuck._

Erza and I share _what the __**fuck **_looks while Juvia hugs the dude.

This dude is like eighty feet tall with fucking steroid arms and like…fucking nails in his face and fucking…like, I don't know, fucking prison tattoos.

_What the __**fuck**__?!_

"What are you doing here Jube?" The guy asked with a scratch at the back of his head, which, _by the fucking way_ was cloaked in this damn black hair that looks…weirdly soft.

"I was looking for Gray!" She said happily, probably forgetting _why _we were looking for Gray, with an excited clasp of her hands as she turned over to us.

"Erza, Jellal, this is my friend from Phantom High, Gajeel!"

Erza and I both look alarmed as the _Gajeel _guy grunts and sort of shrugs. Juvia practically hounds him for information on his new life, while Erza and I organized a quick best friend emergency meeting.

"_I knew Phantom High was fuck but I mean __**Jesus **__that guy has probably committed several felonies!" _I whispered hurriedly.

_"__I know, I know, here's the plan; while everyone's asleep, we stab him in the mouth. Probably his only weak point, considering he looks like he's made out of fucking Tungsten." _Erza whispered back, jerking her head towards the hunting section of the store that was probably stocked with filleting knives.

_"__Are you kidding? Fuck no! That guy probably has knives in his mouth! I say, we stab him right in his dick, it's the most sensitive place for a dude!"_ I said, huddling closer to Erza as people slid past us with almost concerned faces.

_"__Are you blind!? That dude is one step __**above **__a man. He's his own damn species. I bet the knife would break. What if we just-"_

"Uh…what are you guys doing?"

We flew apart and got into incognito positions, examining strange items on the shelves beside us.

"Uh…excuse me?" The same voice asked. I looked down to identify the speaker, and was surprised to see that it was a young girl, probably thirteen or fourteen, with long blue hair and a timid expression.

"We were, uh, discussing-"

"Politics," Erza finished, still holding the beef jerky that she had been pretending to look at in her hand.

The girl may have been young, but she wasn't dumb; you could tell by the disbelieving raise of her eyebrow, and the 'okay fuckers, what's really up' look she sported.

"Uh...just that…guy." I said, subtly pointing my thumb towards Gajeel, who was introducing Juvia to his friends.

_Wait, this dude has friends?! That he hasn't killed yet?!_

"Oh yeah, Gajeel's a little rough around the edges, I suppose. But Levy sure seems to think he's a nice guy, and she's so nice so…I believe her. I'm Wendy, by the way." She stuck her tiny hand out and I shook it lightly.

"I'm Jellal, and that's Erza." I introduced kindly.

"I can introduce myself you know." Erza snapped. "I'm eating this, by the way." She added, while tearing open the bag of beef jerky.

"Erza!" I scolded, but Wendy seemed pretty unfazed.

"Oh, who's gonna stop us, _Janine_? I'll fuck her up if she so much as looks at this shit." Erza said while munching on a teriyaki smelling strip.

"Oh, well, the lady at the front said that it was sort of a free-for-all…" Wendy said, a little bit guiltily. "Oh, and...I guess you guys can hang out with us too, you know…if you want, we're building a fort." Wendy said a little bit hopefully. Erza and I froze, both knowing that where there was fort building, we would be also.

"We humbly accept your offer," Erza said with a curt little bow before abandoning her jerk and racing towards the small cluster of people.

"Uh…wait for me!" I called cheerfully. What was the harm in making a few friends?

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_7:01_

_At the entrance to the service hallway_

_Cobra_

* * *

"Ready?" The gorgeous girl steadied her key against the lock and nervously looked at me for a sign of reassurance. I nodded and she bravely turned the key, letting us into almost a whole different world.

It was at this point that I realized I _don't have a fucking clue what her real name is_.

I was about to ask, but she completely beat me to the chase.

"Hey, what's your name?" She asked as she slowly shut the hallway doors, so that no shoppers could sneak inside.

"Uh…"

_Cobra._

"Uh."

_Say fucking Cobra, you idiot._

"…Erik."

_Dammit._

She looked surprised, before she gave me another one of those award winning smiles.

"That's a nice name, I'm Kinana," she said, sweeping her violet hair out of her eyes and positioning herself so that she was facing the long, winding hallway.

"Oh, uh…that's cool." _Ugh. God. I'm a fucking idiot. _

"So we should probably head for the main office of security, if anyone knows what's going on, it'll be them." She said, her warm voice filled with certainty.

"Right," I agreed stoutly, only half my mind focused on her voice while the other half of my mind was so far deep in the gutter you'd need bungee cords and grappling hooks to get it out.

She was practically skipping the entire way down, but the amazing thing was that her footsteps were almost silent, like the sound was gone before you'd even start to hear it. I just walked, but I guess my strides were long enough to keep up with her incessant bouncing and skipping.

"Hey…do you hear that?" She asked, stopping short and leaning forward to hear the nonexistent sound better.

"Uh…no-"

But then I heard it. Faint, chattering voices that almost sounded like the clicking of a typewriter.

"-of course. All of the proper authorities have been alerted; don't worry about a thing."

_Proper authorities?_

Hey man, I've seen fucking law and order. I know when the shit's about to go down.

I tugged on Kinana's arm, hoping that she'd receive my silent message to _fucking hide_.

She nodded quickly and dove behind some cargo holders while I stayed frozen in place behind a large empty bin.

"-just the thing, if we don't get this under control soon, all hell's gonna break loose."

"Got that right. Are you sure you've contacted all the medical personnel?"

"Yes. We were just lucky that there were so many in the building at the time. I would say we lucked out, but, given the circumstances…"

The other voice chuckled and I heard the sound of a clicking door handle and a swift _whoosh _of a closing door.

We both crept out of our hiding places, careful not to make too much noise. Slowly, we snuck past the door that I presumed the two voices were inside of, and when we finally made it we bolted forward like God himself had sent us on a mission.

When we were finally out of the vicinity, we managed to stop for a quick breather.

"Medical personnel? Do you think something bad has happened…?" Kinana asked openly, her breathing in shallow rasps from the itty bitty marathon we just ran.

"…It must be, they wouldn't be asking this much of a deal out of it if something good happened," I meant to sound snappy, but it came out more broken and defeated than I had hoped.

She frowned. "Over there; the medical center, maybe they can enlighten us."

I nodded a few times before standing back up from my resting form, not denying that I kind of wanted to impress Kinana with my stamina.

The medical center window was small, with criss-cross patterns on it and it sat high on the door.

I looked inside; it was crowded, to say the least. Normal looking people were talking with a bunch of mall medical officers, with not very encouraging looks of horror on their faces.

"What's happening?" Kinana asked from behind me, her small hand finding my shoulder as she attempted to see the events unfold for herself.

"They're talking; it doesn't look to good though…" I said with a grim scowl.

"Hm…we need to hear what's going on, think you can open the door?" She asked doubtfully.

"…Maybe," I said, turning the doorknob ever so slowly. Everyone was already so involved in their own conversations, they failed to notice the door crack open just a hair.

"-can't be serious! There could be hundreds upon hundreds of people in here! We obviously don't have enough lab equipment to-"

"-did this happen? Could it be terrorists? We haven't had terrorism in Magnolia for over twenty five years!"

"-have to go, my daughters out there! We can't just leave them out there!"

I gulped. I really dislike where this is heading…

"People, people! Please, calm yourselves. All that we know at the moment, is that an unknown virus has been exposed to this mall. We are currently sending tests to all the medical facilities in the country to find out if it's deadly or not, for all we know, it could simply be the common cold."

"It could be Ebola!"

"Or Yellow fever!"

"Or Dengue!"

"Please! Remain calm, if we panic, we will only make things worse for ourselves. We need to keep this quiet until we find out what we're dealing with."

At this point, Kinana started tugging at my shoulder violently.

"We can't let them do this!" She whispered frantically, "If no one on the other side knows, they might get infected easier.

My thoughts drifted, if people didn't know to protect themselves, they would be sitting ducks.

"You're right." I agreed, shutting the door with a tiny _swish_. "We have to warn everyone."

Kinana nodded rapidly. "For all we know, they could be playing a giant game of spin the bottle!"

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_8:05 PM_

_Inside Section C headquarters._

_Lucy_

* * *

"Guys, I have an idea!" Natsu shouted, popping his head out from under some halfway constructed tents. "Let's play a giant game of spin the bottle!"

He thrusted a large bottle up victoriously. I smacked my forehead and yanked it away from him. Natsu with glass = a dangerous Natsu.

"Psh, no way, you wish. Keep building, slave!" I said, tossing the bottle into god knows where and hearing a faint shattering.

"Whatever you say, princess." Natsu said, pitching up a metal pole and sticking his tongue out at me.

"Erm…Lucy, could you help me out?"

I turned around and smiled pitifully when I saw the interesting sight of poor Wendy tangled up in striings and poles, which had been dumped on her by Gajeel.

"Ah, sorry blue." He said, dropping the large box and attempting to untangle her.

I walked over to assist him, finding it to be much harder than it actually looked. Wendy had ropes and cords wrapped thinly around her ankles, making it impossible for her to move as Gajeel and I only managed to tie her up even more.

"Uh, Levy! Little help!"

Levy's sky colored hair popped up from behind a shelf full of basketballs. With one quick glance at Wendy, she knew exactly what our problem was.

"Oh my goodness…how did this even happen?" She asked, with a worrisome tap to her chin. Gajeel scratched the back of his head guiltily and shrugged.

"Just help us out," I pleaded gently, knowing very well that if anyone was good at untangling a situation, it was Levy.

"Alright, well, Gajeel, grab that pole, and Lucy…grab those ropes, and…oh dear, I think we're going to need more people…" Levy tapped her foot and called for Juvia, and two other people named Erza and Jellal. Thay all hiked over respectively and Levy explained the situation, all while a rather embarrassed looking Wendy squirmed uncomfortably.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?"

My head swiveled and I almost choked on my own spit as probably the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen glided over to Wendy with an almost motherly expression, followed closely by a gruff looking blond man.

"Poor Wendy got a little tied up, would you mind giving us a hand?" Levy asked sweetly. I swear, that girl could charm everyone. The snowy haired woman was already hooked under her spell as she nodded eagerly.

"Laxus, come help!" She ordered, grabbing a fistful of tent that was now wrapped around Wendy's elbow.

The blond guy followed reluctantly, and soon we were all in a fruitless tug-of-war with the tent that had practically eaten poor little Wendy.

"Stupid tent! Let Wendy go!" Natsu said, yanking at some ropes that were dangerously close to Wendy's neck.

"Natsu! Be careful!" I chided, untying ropes at Wendy's ankles. It seemed that in the midst of things, a few more spare tents had latched on, and now Wendy was almost completely covered.

"Dammit! I almost had it!" Gajeel yelled angrily, kicking a basketball halfway across the store.

"If we just move this rope here, then-"

Levy's instructions were completely ignored, frantic tugging and muffled screams from Wendy ensued, until finally we managed to unearth her face.

"How hard is it to get a tent off of a person!? Is it really that difficult guys!?" She cried.

We all looked around sheepishly. Wendy sighed in anguish.

"Just…get the rest off me please." Wendy asked meekly.

"I don't…understand!" The beautiful red haired girl, Erza I think, exclaimed, her hand tied up in some rope.

The blue haired man with a sick face tattoo laughed at her and dodged a slap.

"Guys, if wejust spin Wendy around, it might untangle itself!"

"that's thr dumbest idea I've ever heard!"

"Shut up! Like _you _have a better idea!"

I stepped back unintentionally, the area around Wendy becoming almost to crowded for me to even breathe.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two new people at the check in desk, both people looked extremely flustered and impatient.

_Heh, they were probably making out in a closet or something._

The girl pulled at the boys arm and pointed to the swarm of people clambered around Wendy.

_Eh, I should probably fill them in…_

I walked over to them casually, and I could almost feel the tension in the air, like something big was about to happen.

"Hi, I'm Lucy, one of our friends got a little tangled up, so-"

The purple haired girl interrupted me urgently.

"We have something important to tell you guys!" She wailed, her grab on the boy's arm not faltering.

"Er, um…alright, go ahead." I said, taking a tentative step back.

"Uh…we need to tell _everyone_." The boy said, his voice holding a splinter of seriousness that instantly snapped me out of my happy mood.

"Ok, I'll go get them." I said, giving them a determined look. The girl flashed me back a grateful one and I knew exactly what I had to do.

"Natsu!"

He turned around instantly at the sound of my voice.

"What's up Luce?" He asked, half his attention on me and the other half on a tent flap around Wendy's knee.

"Uh…can you get everyone's attention for me?" I asked with a sweet smile, knowing very well that that kind of girly shit from me had no effect on him, but he must've caught the need in my voice and he nodded.

"No problem. HEY EVERYONE! THERE'S A GIANT SPIDER ON WENDY!"

The effect is instantaneous, everyone jumps back a solid two feet from a frantic Wendy, who was swiping at the invisible spider.

"Where? Where is it?" She cried out.

"Ah I'm just kidding. But could you listen to Lucy for a sec?" He asked, almost a bit guiltily after seeing the sick look on most of the girl's faces.

"You stupid fire crotch! I'll teach you to cry wolf!" Gajeel leapt in front of Natsu with his fists ready, but Levy pulled him back.

"Ah…mmm…knock 'em dead guys…" I said, awkwardly gesturing to the girl and the boy and backing away.

"The girl clasped her hands together. "Um…hello. I'm Kinana, and this is-"

"Cobra." The boy finished for her sharply. She looked confused, but brushed it off rather quickly.

"Uh, we have something important that everybody needs to know." Kinana said, holding everyone's attention quite well.

"We know why the mall is on lock down."

* * *

**~So…**

**I wrote this kinda quickly, trust me, this is not very normal for me, especially with school started and all that jazz. **

**Anyways, my hope is that with every 7**** reviews **** I will start writing the next chapter. Anything more than that will be like Jesus.**

**Next chapter will kind of be like everone banding together…into a 'guild' of some sort, I suppose you could say.**

**~Review Responses~**

DeAmonQuEen: Ok…I probably **will not be killing off **any _major _characters. Can't go around murdering my OTPs, now could I? But I probably will kill off minor characters, and definitely a lot of unknowns. And no, No one is together in my story yet. I gotta do it myself.

Disney lovers 101: I KNOW I LOVE WENDY!1

uvsns: glad u think so, I guess that makes one of us ?

Ogamer143: I hope u like this u kind soul, sorry for bad writing.

NoSyrupOnMyWaffles: I am nOT A WENDY HATING HATER I PROMISE and mostly random people, plus some smaller characters.

Korra: happy birthday ?!

**PS the tent thing is from personal experience. Those metal poles pinch you and it feels like satan in biting you.**

**Until next time ?~~**

**ALSO ONEE LAST IMPORTANT QUESTION**

**what couple do you want to see the most of? I'd really like to know.**


	4. Quarantine Part 2

**The Remainders**

**Quarantine~ Part 2**

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_8:10 PM_

_Mirajane_

_Section C_

* * *

I felt a gasp escape my lips. They knew why the mall was on lock down? How did they find out? Did they work here?

I felt Laxus gently lean against me in anticipation, the poor girl, Wendy, tied up in tent lost and forgotten.

The pretty purple haired girl surveyed her small audience, making sure that we were all paying attention. I had a brief unpleasant flashback to high school and my least favorite teacher before snapping back into reality.

"Well…apparently, there's a…a virus, that's been released somewhere in the mall, so basically they're…quarantining us…" She said awkwardly, weaving her fingers together with nervous anticipation.

My eyebrows knitted in confusion. A virus? How in the world could a virus just be released?

"H-how do you know this?" The kind blonde haired girl asked, completely horror-stricken.

"We both work here, we went to the back to check things out and they had a bunch of people gathered. They're trying to keep it on the down-lo, but we thought you guys should know." Cobra explained simply, as if this were just another problem in his everyday life.

_A…virus?_

Laxus and I shared confused and scared look, and for a moment, everything stopped.

I stopped hating Laxus, I stopped thinking about my grandma, I even forgot about the two people who meant the most to me in the whole world, my wonderful siblings.

And I thought about _myself._

It was like everything had immediately started revolving around _me_. Was I going to be ok? Was I going to get infected? Was I going to be fine?

I felt…sick. Which I guess wasn't very great in this situation.

"Are you…sure?" Levy, the kind girl who had welcomed us to her small little group of friends to untangle Wendy asked in small, defenseless voice.

"Almost positive, I…there's no other explanation." The purple haired girl breathed out timidly.

My mouth went dry, it was hard to breathe. The entire air supply had suddenly turned to granite and every breath scraped my throat.

"Well, I…I have some hand sanitizer in my purse…if anybody…"

Levy wasn't even able to finish her sentence before she was flocked by all of the anxious teens, desperate for just a little droplet of possible safety.

I suddenly realized _why _they hadn't told us. _This _is why, the panicked craze that everyone plunged into at the sound of danger. It was almost animalistic, and I feared for little Levy's safety, but luckily she had that oversized brute Gajeel to beat everyone away from her.

"So," Laxus said, with surprising tenderness. "I guess we're going to be stuck here for a while, huh?"

"I guess so," I said, my voice barely reaching above a whisper.

My thoughts were interrupted by sudden coughing and hacking and it was like a tiny grenade went off and everybody instantly jumped away from the sound.

"Natsu! What's wrong?" The blonde girl, Lucy, I'm pretty sure, asked worriedly, patting her pink haired friend on the back as he nearly coughed up his own lungs.

"He's sick!" Somebody exclaimed, causing people to hide behind shelves and tent boxes.

"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked as he spit rapidly on the floor.

"Bleh! That stuff tastes _terrible!_" He wheezed, clutching his throat, which was probably burning.

"You….oh my god, you tried to _drink _the sanitizer!?" Lucy yelled, whacking the back of his head with a tent pole. "You idiot! You scared the hell out of me!"

He smiled weakly. "Hey, you won't be saying that when I survive the apocalypse!"

"Drinking hand sanitizer doesn't make you immune!" Lucy yanked Natsu off of his feet by the frayed hem of his scarf and screamed in his face.

I bit my lip, hard enough to draw blood. What kind of virus had been released? Was it deadly? Was I only going to be a dateline special on the tragedy in Magnolia mall?

"Oi. Stop worrying, you're giving yourself wrinkles." Laxus said, giving my forehead a little tap.

"Why should I? Aren't _you _worried?" I countered, giving him a pointed look.

"Nah. I'm sure it's just a false alarm, and if it's not, we got good doctors." Laxus said logically.

"But-"

"Look, if you spend all your time worryin' you're gonna miss somethin' great." Laxus reasoned, strangely philosophically.

I hummed lowly, taking in the other worried people. Everyone seemed to have the same mindset, _what's going to happen to us? _

"Aw, come on guys, cheer up! We're the only sector that knows this, so tomorrow let's raid the pharmacy!" Natsu rallied, finally untangling the younger girl, Wendy, from all of the tent ropes.

"Natsu's right, if we all just calm down and wash our hands, we'll be fine!" Levy cheered happily.

"Hey, would somebody help me pitch this tent?" Jellal asked, holding up some of the remaining tent poles and flaps from the untangled mess.

"Yeah, I'll help ya," Laxus offered, stepping forward to help him retrieve some supplies.

I felt my eyebrows go up. Laxus was not the kind of guy to offer his services to anyone, in fact, Laxus wasn't the kind of guy to do much of anything.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

I turned to see the violet haired girl looking at me with wonder.

"O-oh. No, Laxus is…well he's…I'm not really sure." I admitted. She giggled a little bit when Jellal was hit in the head with a basketball by his friend Erza.

"Oh, so it's _that _kind of relationship. I see. I'm Kinana, by the way." She said.

I blushed a little at what she was implying, but introduced myself anyway. "I'm Mirajane. Ah, you can call me Mira."

"Hmhm. What brings you to prison?" She asked, probably inferring that the mall would soon become our jail cell.

"I was trying to buy a dress for my younger sister's first date." I said sadly, remembering my two lost siblings.

"Awe. I work here, which is how I figured out why we're here," Kinana said with a shrug.

"Did they tell all the employees?" I asked, growing invested in the conversation.

Kinana shook her head. "Erik…er, _Cobra_, I guess, we both went through the service hallway and overheard some officials talking."

"Oh, you two aren't dating?" I asked slyly. You really couldn't blame me for wanting to set up _some _people in this whole ordeal.

"Uh, no, actually we just met. He's pretty cute, I suppose." Kinana said, sizing him up from across the store. He was yelling at Gajeel for setting up a tent wrong, or at least, that's what it looked like.

"Mmm, yes, _I _could help you, if you'd like." I purred. Really, I could never resist helping get people together, it was all just too fun.

"Oh really, and how would you do that?" Kinana asked with a suspicious eyebrow raised.

"I know how you can get him on his knees, girl." I sang, She laughed and glanced back at Cobra, considering my offer.

"I might just have to take you up on that," she answered wryly. I smiled.

Because then, it was easy to pretend that everything was going to be ok.

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_8:45 PM_

_Levy_

_Section C_

* * *

"Mmhhmmm…" I drawled, trying my hardest to care about whatever Lucy was telling me about.

"-And so you know, I've just waited for _so long _and I just figured, what the hell? But of course the whole stupid lockdown thing _totally _interrupted my confession-"

_Wait, confession?_

My gaze snapped up and caught Lucy in mid-explanation. I said something intelligent like _whaaaaahhh? _

Lucy pursed her lips and put on a stern expression. "You didn't hear anything, did you?"

"Eh…maybe?" I admitted with a shy little shrug.

"Ok. Basically I was going to tell Natsu, but I got interrupted by…you know…" Lucy whispered as some people pushed by to help Natsu pitch tents.

"Ohmygosh! I'm so happy for you! You have to confess, tonight!" I shook her shoulders violently and hugged her.

"Wha…I can't! I was stupid to think I could actually confess, he has a girlfriend." She mumbled the last part and I was stuped. Since when did Natsu have a girlfriend?

"Natsu has a girlfriend?" I voiced. Lucy nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, he told me a few weeks ago. Guess you don't know what you've got till it's gone…" Lucy said reminiscently.

"Don't be dumb Lu! He totally likes you, he's just too stupid to notice!" I reassured her. She made a sour face, probably from insulting her object of affection, but waved it off anyway.

"No…I'm too late, I'm not going to ruin his relationship just to further mine." Lucy stated firmly. My eyes rolled back in exasperation, honestly, everyone was just significantly dumber than me sometimes.

"Come on, you've got to at least tell him! It's not fair to either of you." I pressed, leaning against her shoulder.

"O-oh yeah? You're one to talk _Lev-y_." Lucy taunted, damn, I had a bad feeling about where this conversation was going.

"This isn't about me, Lulu." I said swiftly, examining my nails like I was something special.

"Ok, let's make it about you. You've dragged Gajeel everywhere in the past couple of months, you guys are practically attached at the hip. Either you're a lesbian and are madly in love with me, or you can't admit that you have a thing for bad boys~" Lucy cackled, eyeing me for my response.

I sighed deeply, like this was a hard thing for me to say. "Alright, you've got me Lucy." I reached my hand up and stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. "I just can't help myself around you."

Lucy slapped my hand away as I giggled incessantly. "Ugh, come on you little twerp! Admit you think piercings are hot!"

"Admit you think pink hair is hot!" I countered quickly, jumping up and poking her cheek.

"Stubborn little brat!" Lucy prattled, wrinkling her nose up like a bunny in the cold.

"_Fine. _I think piercings are hot." I admitted, throwing my hand back like it was no big deal.

"I _knew _you were hiding something from me shrimp."

Ahh…I was kind of asking for that, wasn't I?

I could hardly think over the sound of Lucy laughing, and I could hardly breathe because seriously, I have the _worst _luck.

"Well, I uh…" I moved my hand in a circle like I was going to continue, when in reality I had literally nothing to say.

"I shoulda known you had a thing for me Lev," Gajeel grinned, flashing his sharp canines because God knows he'll never let me live this down.

"I don't have a thing for _you_, I simply think that piercings hold a sort of whimsical endearment." I explained, hoping that using scholarly words would confuse Gajeel and he would go back to hiding in his cave.

"Stop talking like a weird old person and admit you think I'm hot," he pressed, looming over me like a lion over a gazelle.

God, he was just as bad as Lucy.

"Stupid Gajeel! J'ai une chose pour vous!" I shouted, knowing very well that transitioning to a different language was something that he disliked.

"What now? Would ya stick to English? You're hard enough to understand as it is!" Gajeel hissed.

"Hombre loco!" I insulted, him being unaware of it, of course.

"Whatever pinty, just know that if you ever want a piece of-"

"Abite! Furiosus!" I cried, pushing him away violently. Lucy stared at me with a wicked smirk and raised blonde eyebrows.

"You two have the weirdest, most dysfunctional relationship I've ever seen." She deadpanned, looking at me like it was _my _fault.

"Maybe, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you and Natsu are a match made in heaven." I said dreamily, folding my hands together and sighing.

"You're a crazy demon woman." Lucy whispered. I only smiled in agreement.

* * *

_Friday, June 23__rd_

_9:00 PM_

_Jellal_

_Section C_

* * *

"That literally makes no sense."

"It makes plenty sense! If we attach the leaf blowers to the bottom of the tents, they'll totally fly! I call them hover tents!" Natsu said, grabbing my shoulder and painting an imaginary neon sign in the air.

"Oh yeah genius? How're you gonna attach 'em?" Cobra asked, his muscled arms folded tightly against his shirt.

"There is nothing duct tape cannot fix." Natsu lectured, picking up a roll of duct tape and twirling it around his wrist.

"I…I'm not really sure what else to say." Laxus said dumbfounded by Natsu's idiot logic.

"Ha! That's what I thought." Natsu tossed the roll in the air and caught it again on his finger.

"Well how would you sleep with all the noise from the leaf blowers?" I finally asked, hoping to stump Natsu with an equally dumb question.

"I…hmm…that's a good point Jelly." He said, tapping his chin in thought.

"It's…Jellal." I said lamely, not really sure how you'd get 'jelly' from my name.

"Whatever. What if we put the leaf blowers on mute?" Natsu said with a quick snap of his fingers.

"What." Cobra said flatly. I agreed completely.

"It's perfect! Romeo, get the leaf blowers!" Natsu shouted down an aisle. A young boy saluted him and raced down the aisle.

"Who's that kid?" Laxus asked, voicing my thoughts. Did kids all of a sudden become Natsu's slaves?

I absentmindedly took a look at Erza from across the room, who had been sticking close to Juvia for a majority of the time, along with the crazy convict guy.

"Hey guys, what do you call a sarcastic felon falling down the stairs?" Natsu asked to us.

When no one answered, and I subtly glanced at Gajeel at the mention of the word 'felon', Natsu took that as an opportunity to give us the answer.

"…A condescending _con descending._ HAHAHAHAHAHA! Get it? Because it's a con, who's _descending. _I'm hilarious, guys-"

"We get it. Good lord, _we get it._" Cobra said, burying his head in the palm of his hand.

"Hey Natsu! I got the leaf blowers!" The kid, probably around fifteen or sixteen, came rushing back, a few giant boxes balancing in his arms.

"Thanks Romeo! You're awesome!" Natsu said, taking the boxes from Romeo and dumping them on top of a tent.

I didn't think it was possible for a kid to smile so much, but it was pretty obvious that he _idolized _Natsu. And for very questionable reasons. I mean, he seemed like a good guy, he was just...mentally retarded.

"Uh..yeah! Cool!" Romeo said, scratching the back of his head, with his wide smile never faltering.

"Hey, what're you idiots doing?" Gajeel asked deeply. _Ok, don't panic. If he kills you – Erza will know! She can report him to the police...that is, if he doesn't kill her as well..._

"Hey! Ink face! I'm talkin' to ya!" He barked. _Ink face...? Fuck, that's me!_

"Uh...well..."

"EIIIIIIEEIIEIEEIEIIEIEIIE!"

_Holy shit! Is it even possible for something to be that high pitched?_

Following the high pitched scream, was three little kids, probably six or seven, racing past us, it looked like two boys chasing a girl with some sort of gross thing in their hands.

"Hahaaha! What's the matter Carla, are you scared of a dead mouse!?"

"EEEEEKKK! Get away from me you pig!"

"Hahaha! Get 'er Happy!"

And then, something horrible happened. That poor, innocent, young little tortured girl, ran directly into Gajeel.

_Welp, she's dead._

Gajeel didn't even flinch, but the little girl ricotched off of his leg and fell flat on the ground. Her two campanions didn't seem fazed by Gajeel's fear factor and stopped running to laugh at her.

I had to admit, it was sort of a blow to my man pride. A couple of six year olds were less afraid of psycho murder pants, and I was?

"Ha! Carla can't run." The short, blue haired boy laughed.

"She can't see either." The black haired boy added.

The girl rubbed her white blonde hair angrily. "Well you two are degenerate and a waste of valuble oxygen!"

"Hey, you sound like shrimpy." Gajeel said, peering down at the girl, with a lot less malice and anger then I had anticipated.

"Eh? What's a shrimpy?" The girl asked, her tiny hands poised on her hips. Jesus, does this chick have nerves of steel?

"An annoying chick. What are you brats doin'?" He asked gruffly, but at the same time, a lot less gruff than I had thought.

"We're chasing Carla with the dead mouse." The blue haired boy said simply, holding up a legitamate dead mouse with pride.

"That's...disgusting." Cobra said, his nose wrinkled because the mouse didn't smell all too pleasant.

"Can't you idiots find something better to do?" Gajeel suggested.

The blue haired boy testily threw the dead mouse to the side, with no regard to where it's future whereabouts might be. "We could play...beat up the big kids!"

"Yeah!" The black haired boy agreed, latching onto Gajeel's leg and sitting on his foot.

"The hell?" Gajeel asked as the blue haired kid leapt onto Natsu's back like a cheetah.

"Gah! Lucy, help! Demon!" Natsu shrieked, bouncing around while trying to pry the kid off of his back.

"Hey shrimp! Get this damn brat off me!" Gajeel shook his leg violently and the kid attached only laughed in glee.

"You're both barbaric!" Carla yelled, straightening her pink dress and frowning at her friend's behavior.

"Eh...where're your parents?" I asked her anxiously. No parent should allow their kid to carry around a dead mouse, I'm sorry.

"We came here with our nanny, but she took a smoke break. Those two idiots thought it would be an excellent idea to run off, and now..." She shrugged sadly at their lack of supervision.

"Why don't you brats stick with us for a while? Until your nanny gets back, or whatever. And be sure to wash yer sticky hands." Laxus said, gesturing to the bathroom across the store. Carla looked at him quizzically, not being around for the collective announcement about the vius, but followed his orders anyways. I didn't blame her, Laxus could be just as intimidating as Gajeel sometimes.

I watched Gajeel and Natsu flip out with kids stuck to them out of the corner of my eye, thankful that I didn't have a sticky kid strapped to me. Laxus and Cobra shared my thankfulness, but didn't voice their opinions. It was a sort of a collective understanding, something that only guys got. I almost forgot about it, being friends with Erza so long, but it was nice to have some guy friends. Who knows, maybe this whole situation will just bring all of us closer together.

* * *

_Friday, June 23rd_

_9:25 PM_

_Wendy_

_Section C_

* * *

Kids. There are kids, _everywhere_.

Of course, I happened to be talking to Levy and Lucy when Gajeel and Natsu came flailing towards them, begging for help to distangle the chlidren from whatever body part they had latched onto.

It was actually kind of funny, to see Gajeel freak out.

"Get it off me shrimp! Get it off!" He stomped his foot up and down, and the small boy just giggled and held on tighter.

Natsu was viciously clawing at his back, and missing most of the time, partly because he was jumping around, making it harer for him to aim, and partly because he didn't want to physically hurt the child.

"Lucyyyyyy! Help HELP hELP!" He turned around so Lucy could remove the kid, kind of like one person removing a tumor.

"No! It's all sticky!" Lucy squealed, hiding behind Levy who was having just as much, if not more, trouble with Gajeel.

"I got you Natsu!" A boy whizzed past me with a rake and was ready to claw the boy off of Natsu's back, but I decided to step in.

"Don't hurt him!" I meant to sound firm, I really did, but it came out a lot squeakier than I had hoped.

The boy lowered his rake slowly. "Eh...sorry."

I didn't know this boy. He looked about my age, cute, I guess, with messy dark hair and dark eyes to match.

"Hey! Romeo! Help!" Natsu yelled. The boy, Romeo snapped his gaze away from me and dropped the rake to help pry the boy from Natsu's back.

"Oh for heaven's sakes," the little blonde girl stormed over and helped Romeo peel the boy off of Natsu.

"Don't just stand there girl! Help us!" She said to me. I jumped up to help, a little bit embarrassed of being so spacey.

"S-sorry," I mumbled, reaching over to help peel the boy off of Natsu.

"No! I'll never surrender! Leggo Carla!" The boy kicked and squirmed, making it extremely difficult to get a proper hold on him.

"Happy! Get down, you're embarrassing yourself!" Carla seethed, tugging on Happy's leg.

"Nooo! I have to win!" Happy wailed, holding even tighter to Natsu's neck. Natsu made sort of a half choking half wheezing noise and stumbled backwards.

Romeo suddenly jumped on the boy, providing just enough weight to yank Happy off of Natsu, but still send all three of them careening towards the ground.

"Natsu! Don't kill that poor boy!" Lucy shouted, pulling Natsu's arm so that his weight could be exerted off of the two younger boys.

"Are you ok?" I asked Happy, looking at him with concern. Natsu definitely wasn't fat, but he certainly would be heavy, especially on top of a six or seven year old boy.

"Yeah, no problem, I'm fine." Romeo said, trying to sound tough even though I could tell he was out of breath. I decided not to tell him I was talking to the kindergartener.

"Oh, good. What about you?" I asked Happy again, hoping he would be the one to answer this time.

"I can't...taste...the air..." He squeaked, breathing in and out heavily as he laid on the ground.

"Haha! I win!" The boy attached to Gajeel's leg yelled in triumph. He let go of the leg and dusted himself off like this was all in a day's work.

"Aw, no fair Lily! My big kid cheated!" Happy pouted, seeming to have recovered from his out of breath state.

"Hey! I didn't cheat!" Natsu shouted.

"Yeah you did! No flipsies!" Happy shouted back.

"That wasn't flipsies! I fell on accident!"

"Was too flipsies!You used a friend, that's cheating!"

"That doesn't count! Romeo and I are a team!"

After Natsu's previous comment Romeo's smile seemed to increase tenfold as he gave Natsu a high five.

"Nuh-uh! There's no tag teaming!" Happy fumed, stomping his foot on the ground.

"You two are absolutely ridiculous!" Carla huffed, plopping her hands on her hips and puffing air in her cheeks.

"You're just jealous because you lost." Lily said, sticking his tongue out and laughing.

"There was nothing _to_ lose." Carla sniffed, straightening her back and turning to face us. "Hi, I'm Carla, that's Happy, and that's Lily. The...um...man with the lightning scar said that we could stay with you guys...until our...caretaker comes back."

"Oh, alright. Make yourselves at home kids!" Levy welcomed brightly, gesturing to the wide area of tents our little 'group' had set up. I honestly felt bad for the other people in Section C, they probably found us to be pretty insufferable.

"Yeah, cool! Forts!" Happy and Lily cheered, shooting towards the tents that were already pitched and diving inside.

"What are the sleeping arrangements?" Carla asked broadly. I didn't think she was talking to me, so I didn't provide an answer. Also, I myself didn't really know the answer.

"Uh...I think it's just going to end up being a free for all, but I think you'll share a tent with one other girl." Lucy specified.

"Oh, alright." I could tell that Carla was a little uncomfortable with that, she didn't really know anyone, like me.

"You can share a tent with me Carla," I said, trying to sound as welcoming as possible. She looked vauguely relieved, before thanking me and excusing herself to get Happy's shirt unstuck from a tent zipper.

"Carla! Help! It's biting me!"

"I'm coming, you buffoon."

I smiled a little bit at their innocence. I kind of wished I still had mine, it was so much easier to be carefree when you had so little responsibility.

"Hey Wendy, want to help us set up sleeping arrangements?" Lucy asked, returning from her small trek to the front desk with a clipboard and pen to jot down plans.

"Yeah, sure." I said brightly. Besides, I needed to get everyone's names down, it was nearly impossible to remember so many.

* * *

_Friday, June 23rd _

_9:52 PM_

_Lucy_

_Section C_

* * *

"Ok, so far I have me and you, Wendy and Carla, Juvia and Erza, and Mira and Kinana." I said to Levy, clicking my pen a few times and turning towards the mess of pitched tents and blankets.

"Great, now we just have to do the boys." Wendy stated, looking over anxiously to a group of guys who were, big surprise, fighting.

"I don't care _what _the laws of physics say, I'm going to make basketball shoes! That way, I can like…bounce to school…or something."

"If you're gonna attach balls to your feet, it might as well be _your _balls because you'll obviously never get a chance to use them properly."

"Uhh…hey! You're insulting me!"

"Yeah, I am!"

"Shut up! At least I have a normal name!"

"Natsu is not a normal name!"

"It's more normal than Cobra!"

"It's not my real name dumbass!"

Levy sweat dropped. Wendy looked frightened. I just rolled my eyes.

"Natsu! Who do you want to sleep with?" I asked. Whoa, that came out wrong.

Natsu's face contorted into a confused one. "Wait…you're giving me a choice?"

"Wha-no, no, no, no. Like…the person you want to share a tent with." I explained, hoping Natsu wouldn't take this opportunity to make some weird sex joke.

"Oh…uh…" He scratched his head and I couldn't help but notice all the guys around him subtly back away.

"Just pair him with Gajeel," Levy whispered. I wrote it down with a nod.

"Shrimp! You little back stabber!"

"Shut up Gajeel, it's for your own good!"

"How the hell is this any good! I'm gonna lose brain cells just from standing next to him!"

"Too bad!"

"Uh…ok, what about you Laxus?" I asked, looking up from my clipboard to the solemn looking man.

"I unno." Laxus grunted, although I guess I could see where he was coming from, it wasn't like guys to just say, 'hey, I wanna sleep next to _this _guy!'.

"Ok, you can bunk with…Romeo." Levy said, picking out Romeo, who was assisting Carla with keeping Lily and Happy out of trouble.

"The little twip? Eh…fine." Laxus mumbled, his eyes drifting away from us to his girlfriend. At least I'm pretty sure that's his girlfriend…

Mira was talking to Kinana, they seemed to have really hit it off. It made me happy, to say the least, making the best of a bad situation was heart warming.

"Wendy, why don't you go tell Romeo," Levy suggested slyly. Ugh, she seems so nice but she really is a witch.

"Oh…uh…ok." Wendy stuttered, waddling over to where Romeo was.

"Levy," I warned, giving her my best stink eye possible.

"Awe, but they'd be so cute together," she reassured, touching her fingers together to make a little finger heart that she steadied over Wendy informing Romeo.

"Ok, Cobra…you'll be with Jellal." I finished, already knowing that Lily and Happy would be in the same tent. Which…now that I think of it…might not be such a good idea…

"Whatever." Cobra said thinly. _Well fuck you too._

"Natsu!" I called. He was my human megaphone, I needed him.

"_What."_

_Shit!_

Natsu had been directly behind me, and was now laughing like a maniac after scaring the _ever loving hell _out of me.

"Natsu…Jesus…" I said, steadying my hands on my knees. I was about to tell him to show everyone where they'd be sleeping (at least I assumed that he knew where everybody would be sleeping…) but I was interrupted when suddenly there was a loud slamming noise and the lights shut off.

I heard a few people scream, but mostly gasping. It certainly came as a surprise, I couldn't see my own hand in front of me.

"Lucy! Where'd you go?!" Natsu asked, his voice panicky as I felt him slap my arm.

"Ouch! You idiot I'm right here!" I hissed as he latched onto my arm.

**Attention mall dwellers, it is now lights out. Please stay in your respective sector until further announcements.**

"Well thanks for the warning mall voice guy!" Natsu yelled, leading me towards the tents.

"Can you see anything"

"Where'd my bag go?"

"I can't see shit! Shrimp! Where the hell are ya?"

"The monsters will get us!"

"Is this a tent, or a person?"

_Flick._

Suddenly, a dim light appeared in the form of a flashlight that was being held by Erza.

"Guys, there're flashlights over here," she said, pointing to a shelf full of heavy duty flashlights.

Natsu dragged me over and grabbed two, before pulling me back towards the tents.

"Which one's yours?" He asked softly, letting his tight grip on my arm falter.

"Er…that one." I said, pointing to a tent that was slightly tilted to the side with a slip of paper loosely taped over the door that said _Lucy and Levy. _

"Where's mine?" Natsu asked. Oh yeah, we didn't really get a chance to label his tent.

I pointed to a group of unlabeled tents hastily. "One of those, would you mind helping all of the other guys getting to their tents, especially the little kids?" I asked. He nodded respectfully.

"Course I will Luce, have a safe night." He bid, before traipsing over to the boy's side to help assign tents.

_Have a safe night._

"Hey Lu, sorry I lost you back there," Levy apologized, shifting her giant flashlight on her hip so it wouldn't weigh her down as much.

"It's alright, let's get to bed…" I said, unzipping our tent and unfolding the sleeping bags we had pre-placed in each tent.

"Weird, don't you think? That they just shut off all the lights with no warning whatsoever?" She whispered, and although she couldn't see my face very well, I nodded.

"Mhm. This whole thing's weird, I wonder…" I stopped myself before I could finish my sentence as I finished unrolling the bag.

"Wonder what?" Ugh. Stupid Levy and her intuitiveness.

"If any of us are going to…you know, get _sick._" I mumbled as I slipped into the sleeping bag quietly.

_Sick. _It seemed like a term worse than death right now, if I got sick…would they kick me out of the sector? If I got sick from that creepy suitcase…

_Shit. _There it was. If anybody was going to get sick, it was going to be me. I'm patient zero. Then Levy, because we're bunkmates, then Gajeel, because…well, we all know why…then-

"I think if any one of us gets sick, we'll take care of each other. You know, like a makeshift family." Levy said positively, easing my mind in the slightest.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" I admitted to myself, laying my head down on the soothingly cold pillow and sighing.

"Goodnight Lucy," Levy mumbled before turning and burying her face in her pillow.

"Goodnight Levy," I said, turning around to face the fabric of the tent.

And although my mind was at rest, my eyes refused to shut.

_This is all my fault._

* * *

**Hihello I haven't really done much updating in a while and someone reminded me to get off my lazy ass and write this so _yeah._**

**This is also what I like to call my _brotp establishment chapter _so not much plot development as much as character development.**

**And also, sorry if you were expecting a really good chapter. You can just throw this in the trash, along with me, and the new spider man franchise.**

**and we have like seven reviews per chapter which is awesome  so let's make that like a thing because i am super OCD **

**Review Responses~**

* * *

DeAmonQuEen: I did not have very good luck with this chapter it was mean to me

Disney Lovers 101: tents: killing more people annually since washing machines..._stay safe folks_

UndefinedReality: ok yes I have this whole Nalu plotline thing in my head and im like dying to write it so yeahhh _your nalu feels will explode_

PKMN Trainer Cobalt: wow way to make this easier for me buddy REAL NICE hey what does pkmn stand for

Karen: I know cobra is your spirit animal

NoSyrupOnMyWaffles: ok I WILL MAAM HERE YA GO OK

idevourbooks: yeah this plot is so cool which is why I was pissed when the book sucked. _why not add fairy tail and make it better? _

AND BY NON UNIQUE PLOTS DID YOU MEAN:

evrbody at da guild is meen 2 lucy bc of lisaanna she is an evil bitch so lucy goes 2 sabertooth and fucks sting _and _rogue!1 you know what, why don't we throw in zeref and laxus too? they're semi hot. and while we're at it, cobra and gajeel. lucy also becomes a dragon slayer.

guest: thank you madam anon

fjjj: alec omf everything you say makes me asfg like omg

that didn't make any sense

alECCC:well now you get to be in 2 responses are YOU HAPPY NOW?!***

GUEST: MR GUEST you ARE LITERALLY THE REASON WHY I WAS LIKE shit son gotta work on this chap so THANK YOU SHIRLEY {your new name is Shirley}

uvsns: I really like late reviews bc im like wtf people still read this shit but then I read the review and im like AWEWQAWQA and yok I will couple that shit up

* * *

**if you don't like swearing im v sorry**


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